Monday, April 30, 2012

I'm still hanging out in Peterborough for the first part of the day having some vlog fun with Chantilly. In case you missed our bike bag Crafternoon yesterday you can watch the recorded version anytime you like.

Today I thought I would share some cute kitty videos with you that I have been taking with Keek. That is probably the only thing I will be filming with this cute little app. I love my cats.

Friday, April 27, 2012

If you will be joining Thursday and I for the Crafternoon on Sunday you may be interested in the "pattern" for the bike bag. It's not so much a pattern as it is a bunch of helpful measurements. Perfect. I'm totally not a pattern person if I can help it.

If you want to be a keener (I'm totally going to be) you can get your pieces cut out ahead of time. So get your scissors and start cutting fabric!

I am dying over this style of bowls at the moment. They are so pretty!

Today I am going to figure out my travel plans for the weekend. I'm heading to Peterborough people! You probably already figured that out if you saw this post. I'm excited but I have a lot of things to finish up today before I head out tomorrow. What are your weekend plans? Will you be joining Thursday and I for the Crafternoon on Sunday?

Thursday, April 26, 2012

I have had this dress for quite a few months now but I haven't really worn it. Some days I would put it on but I just wasn't quite feeling it. I loved the colours but I just wasn't sure what I wanted to pair with them. Then I realized that this cardigan and these tights matched the dress really closely! This was a very exciting day for me, I don't get out much.

On another note, this was actually my first attempt at taking outfit photos during the day with my studio lights. Normally I do it at night so that I don't get mixed lighting but it was really rainy out the other day and the living room was super dark. I closed the curtains, flicked on my lights and I was pleasantly surprised with the results! In case you are wondering about my lighting set up or what my lights look like, I posted a bit about that this morning.

So here's to wearing something new and taking outfit photos on a dark, rainy day!

Since I mentioned that I have been using indoor lighting to take some of my outfit photos I have been asked quite a few questions about them. I thought that today I would show you my lights and my typical set up.

Here is what my set up looks like from behind the camera.

As you can see, I normally set up my camera facing our clipboard wall with the lights about halfway between the camera and the point where I will stand. I keep the lighting low so that it is not in frame and angled upwards so that the light bounces off our white ceilings.

This kind of gives you an idea of what I see while I am taking my photos.

Here is an example of what it looks like when I am standing in front of the set up shown above.

I don't always have the lights between myself and the camera. When I take closer up shots I usually move the camera in front of the lights. I don't find that it really makes a difference where I put the lights in relation to the camera and myself. As long as they are not casting any weird shadows they are in a good spot.

Below is an example of what it looks like with the camera in front of the lighting.

In this next photo I was standing kind of beside, kind of in front of the lighting and it is the only situation that gives me consistently bad results.

Yikes!

Here is a photo of what the actual lights look like.

Ivan is my hero when it comes to finding lighting. As you can see from the sticker, these ones came from Value Village. If I don't have to remove those stickers I never do, I'm just trying to keep it real for the photo. Or I'm lazy, your choice. Ivan also found me some lights like this but with four bulbs. Both are great but these ones are easier to use because they are small enough to keep out all the time. The bulbs that came with the lights are 375W, 115-120V and say 'Movie Flood' on them if any of that means anything to you.

I really love my lights and I love the flexibility that it gives me in terms of taking photos any time of the day or night. If you have any other questions you can ask in the comments and I'll make sure to get back to you!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Kim from Art Equals Happy and I decided that it would be fun to sort of exchange videos back and forth and ask each other questions. Kim started with this video where she asked and answered our first two questions.

Isn't Kim adorable?! Below I posted my response to the questions and asked two of my own. Man, I am bad at thinking of questions. Do you know how hard it was for me to come up with just two? I actually only came up with one! Ivan thought of one for me. I have a block in my mind when it comes to questions.

Feel free to play along and answer our questions, just make sure you leave us a link so we can check it out!

Pop over to Kim's blog and say hello if you get a chance! It is full of pretty photos and lots of yarn!

In case anyone out there is interested I am accepting blog sponsors again for May. May is one of my favourite months, probably because my birthday is in May and I love spring weather. I am pretty excited about some of the bloggy things that will be happening in May as well. Thursday and I have some really fun vlogs planned that I can't wait to film and share!

If you are interested in sponsoring or would like more information you can check out my sponsor info page or email me at loveelycia[at]gmail[dot]com. I would love to chat!

A huge thank you to all of my April sponsors, I really appreciate your support and have loved having all of you hang out in my sidebar this month.

Shell sent me an email to tell me that she liked my hair curling video. She was so sweet and funny that of course I had to go visit her blog and get to know her a bit better. (and check out her hair!)

What I saw that made me stay:

Obviously I love colourful hair, pretty photos and cats so that got me hooked. Shell's blog design is also very simple and pretty which is a bonus. I have been chatting with Shell through email and her personality is what really makes me stick around. I really like the way she writes on her blog as well, it sounds very conversational which I love.

Firstly, thank you to Annika for the clever 'Crafternoon' name. We obviously need people like you to name things like this for us.

Chantilly and I are excited to announce our second craft along that will be happening this Sunday April 29th at 4 pm EDT on our UStream channel. Hopefully we chose a time that will work for our local and overseas friends, we would love it if you joined us! This time we will be making a bike bag for all of your travel biking needs. Isn't it awesome?! I can't wait to make one for myself!

We had so much fun at our last craft party and I can't wait to do it again this time. Let us know if you think you'll be able to make it and we'll save you a virtual seat and assign you a virtual snack to bring. Ok, so, seating is not limited and unfortunately the technology required for internet snack sharing has not been mastered yet, I'm just trying to sound fancy.

♥elycia

PS. I'll be back later to announce the winner of the Chantilly (different Chantilly) prize pack giveaway so make sure you get your entries in if you would like a chance at winning!

I have worn this dress before in an outfit post but I didn't show you the back. It is one of my favourite parts of the dress. It goes low and it kind of reminds me of a ballet outfit. I took ballet for years but I stopped right before I got pointe shoes, which were the reason I wanted to start ballet in the first place. I used to look at this ballet book at my Grama's house when I was really little and admire the costumes and colours and wish that I was a ballerina. I wonder if my Grama still has that book? I should ask her!

Yesterday my mom came over and we spent almost the entire day in the garden. Our front garden was/still kind of is a jungle and we worked on ripping things out to get a fresh start. We aren't completely finished but it is starting to look so much better already. I have discovered that I actually really love gardening and can spend hours out there! That's a really good thing because there is still tons of work to do.

Today I have some fun blog stuff to do including responding the this video from my friend Kim!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

I feel like it has been quite a while since the kitties have got any action over here. They are definitely one of my favourite things in the world and I love taking photos of them so here are a few of my favourites from the last while.

Farva was laying with Ivan while he was snoozing on the couch. It looked like he was guarding him!

As I've mentioned a few times, Anakin has turned into a major diva when it comes to photos. He'll allow 1 or 2 with his diva face on and then he gets up and walks away.

I love when my kitties sit together on the couch.

Farva has been a little bit brattier than usual lately. He has become obsessed with trying to steal food from people and jumping up on the table. It's probably because we are feeding him a little less so that he loses his little hanging tummy. When we have four people at the table he will keep trying to jump up until I get him his special chair so that he can sit and see what's going on on the table. It works every time! He is so silly. This is his special chair and it is my favourite to take pictures with as well.

Another funny thing about Farva: he will wear anything you put on him and not try to take it off. I think it's because he likes to be fancy.

Kind of off topic but a funny cat related story. Has anyone seen the movie 'Future'? Well if you have you know the little cat voice that starts the movie. Ivan and I tried to watch it the other day and when the voice started I almost started crying. Then a few minutes into the movie where they go to get the cat from the shelter and the voice starts again saying completely adorable things, I started sobbing. We had to stop watching because I was too stressed out about what was going to happen to the cat.

The next day I went to the movies with friends and there was this part where I thought a dog was going to get hit by a car and I started crying. It didn't even come close to happening! I've always known I was a major wimp when it came to animals but I feel like it's getting even worse! I just love them so much.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

I case you haven't had a chance to check out my April sponsors here they are to introduce themselves! Once again I have a really great bunch of people and I am so and thankful for all of them. Let's get this party started.